Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law (Halloween Special)
by Hadican
Summary: Halloween Special. Post Series. He jolted, there was a sensation like breath wafting against his neck. "Aren't you a little old for trick-or-treating, Pine Tree?"


Author's Note: I wrote this pretty quick and didn't have a lot of time to proof read, so if there are mistakes I apologize in advance! The title is kind of silly considering the subject matter, but I hope you enjoy!

* * *

He is a little too old to be trick-or-treating like this, but Mabel was clinging to childhood, and it had _only_ been a few months since they turned thirteen. One last hurrah, she said. He pointed out that they got to do Halloween this summer in Gravity Falls.

She rebuffed him with the fact it was Summerween, not Halloween, and there was a _big_ difference.

He countered with the fact that he was pretty sure it was illegal for them, as teenagers now, to trick-or-treat. She claimed they would be rebels and as long as nobody blabbed they would be perfectly safe. What were they going to do, check their nonexistent driver's license?

He went along with it, but insisted to choose his own costume. He ended up dressing up in a more Indiana Jones styled outfit. Mabel went all out. Glitter, a ruffled dress, and a crown with a wand.

Dipper trailed after his sister. He did think it was pretty fun, and if this really was his last Halloween trick-or-treating then he would enjoy it.

Plus, his sister was right. It had only been a couple of months since they turned thirteen, and next year he could go to a Halloween party or something like that. He could also plan out his next Summerween too. Those plans would undoubtedly be hanging out with Wendy as an actual teenager.

Lost in thought he did not notice when he separated from his twin. Blinking he looked around.

There were a few distant houses from where he was currently aimlessly walking along. Usually Mabel would have grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along while he was distracted, but not this time.

He frowned and shivered as a gust of wind chilled him.

"Mabel?" he called, as he walked along the seemingly abandoned road. This was weird...He could have sworn there had been a lot of kids trick-or-treating with them. Surely they wouldn't have disappeared this quickly.

There was the sudden feeling of being watched that had his hairs standing on end.

He glanced around warily, but there was nobody even close to his location. If he squinted he could see a couple of trick-or-treaters at a house in the distance. The glow of the porchlight illuminated them faintly.

It was kind of eerie now that he thought about it. Shaking his head he made his way to the more populated section of the neighborhood. No doubt he would run into Mabel eventually.

He jolted, there was a sensation like breath wafting against his neck. "Aren't you a little old for trick-or-treating, Pine Tree?"

He swallowed thickly. The tinny, distorted voice was too familiar to be coincidence, and the nickname sealed the deal.

The brown-haired teen whipped around but there was nothing there. No yellow, floating, triangle shaped dream-demon.

He drew in a soothing breath.

 _Just my imagination. He's gone. We beat him._

"I wouldn't say _beat_ , more like, _postponed_ the inevitable," the voice returned, right there, right next to his ear. The teen staggered backwards but there was still nobody there.

"W-where are you?" Dipper questioned, and earned a cackle for his effort.

"Ohhh, I think the question is _where are you_ , Pine Tree?"

 _Back home, back with mom and dad, and Mabel, and nowhere near the weirdness of Gravity Falls. Nowhere near Bill._

"Keep telling yourself that, kid."

The sensation of a hand running down his arm caused him to tense. Right where the scars of a fork still lingered, a reminder.

He ran a short distance before whipping around, and just like before there was nobody there. The teen's breath became labored and he was very close to panicking.

"Did you think…" a hand clenched his throat, there was still no sign of the dream demon, but the sensation was too real to discount. "I didn't have a backup plan?"

He belatedly realized the hand on his throat was his own.

With his other hand he tried to remove his own hand, but it was no use. The appendage had no intention of listening to Dipper.

Panic swelled, and in desperation he clawed at his own hand. The sting of his too blunt nails did nothing to release his right side from Bill's control.

"We're going to have a bit of fun tonight, Pine Tree."

"W-what makes y-you think I'll do anything you ask, Bill?!" he suddenly wanted his Grunkles here, but they were still traveling the world. Too far away to be of any help.

"Oh, that's funny, kid," the chuckle ricocheted off his skull, and a wave of disorientation flooded the teen's system. "You think you have a _choice_!"

To prove the point the teen took a step forward, but it was not of his own volition. He began to panic at the realization that he no longer had control of his body.

The hand that had been used to squeeze his own throat released him, and fell uselessly at his side as he continued to walk forward.

"S-stop."

He was ignored.

When he saw his sister come into view he panicked.

"Bill, no," he tried, and once more was ignored. His own face contorted into a wide grin, and he wondered if his eyes were yellow, or if they were normal. Given that he was still within his own body and was not watching from the outside he could only assume he looked the same.

"Hey Mabel," his own voice betrayed him.

The girl whipped around and beamed at her brother.

"There you are, bro bro, you're missing out on all the candy action!" she said, and showed him all the treats she had collected in his absence. The bag she used had almost burst at the seams.

"Wow, yeah, sorry about that, I got a little distracted."

 _Run Mabel, run!_

His warning was trapped within his own mind. They walked along the sidewalk and Bill did nothing for a good ten minutes. Just followed after Mabel and even got some candy along the way.

It was when a car was making its way toward them and a sadistic grin contorted his own face that Dipper began to panic again.

 _Bill, no!_ _Please!_

No response from the dream demon, save for roaring laughter bouncing off of every crevice of the teen's mind.

The car came closer and Bill raised Dipper's hands. He screamed, begged, and pleaded with the dream demon not to hurt his sister. Not to make _him_ hurt his sister. He pulled backward and readied to shove Mabel into oncoming traffic.

Before Bill's plan could come to fruition the car stopped.

Dipper blinked owlishly and gapped when he saw who was in the car. His shock was so strong he did not notice that control had been seemingly restored to him.

"Hey kids!" Grunkle Stan called, and smiled widely at the duo. Mabel practically launched herself at Stan to the point she was climbing through the window to hug him. She wound her arms around his neck and he patted her back. "Easy, pumpkin!"

"Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!" she called in delight, and crawled over Stan carefully to also give Ford a hug too. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, we were in the neighborhood and thought we would drop by," Ford said, smiling down at Mabel.

Climbing into the backseat she got out and ran over to Dipper and pulled him over to their Grunkles.

"Hey, kid," Stan said, smiling. The teen smiled at the two of them, but it did not quite reach his eyes.

"Hey Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, it's good to see you."

Ford frowned. Dipper knew he sounded off. He was still reeling from the fact that he had almost shoved Mabel into traffic. Had almost seriously injured his sister or worse. Or rather, Bill had almost made him do those things.

"Is something wrong, Dipper?"

He jolted and rubbed his arm. Rubbed the indentions of the fork.

"Ah, uh, just tired, I guess, we've been out for a while now," Dipper said, lied.

"Aw c'mon, bro, we're only thirteen, we're in our prime!" Mabel said, and threw her arm around her brother and nearly clocked him in the face with her heavy bag of candy that looked dangerously close to being spilt everywhere.

"Well, if you need a ride home, we can give you one," Ford said, but he did not look convinced of Dipper's statement.

"That would be great!" Mabel said, and had already started to climb into the back seat with her massive bag of candy. "Oh, but we still need to fill up your bag Dipper."

She moved to get back out, but Dipper was already climbing into the car.

"You know what, I think I'm good," he said.

"Well, don't go trying to steal any of my candy cause you didn't get enough," Mabel said, and he smiled at her.

"Scouts honor," he said.

"You aren't in the scouts," she countered, and he shrugged as he pulled his bag into his lap. It was about half full, and that seemed like more than enough for him. He...he had a lot on his mind.

They put their seatbelts on and Grunkle Ford began to drive. The teen let out a shuddering breath and leaned his head back against the seat as Mabel recounted what they had been doing during the school year thus far.

Was...had any of that even been real?

Dipper scrubbed his hand over his face and decided to come clean to his Grunkles. There was no point in hiding it. Mabel could get hurt or worse if this happened again.

Resolve strengthened he opened his eyes and sat up.

"Hey, uh, Grunkle Ford, um, Grunkle Stan...actually, there is something wrong."


End file.
